Trying a new spot for my question about building costs! Anyone? (~_*

Buying a house should not be your biggest concern. There are houses for sale from 40, 50 thousand. Just google "real estate puerto rico" and you'll see for yourself.

What should be your concern is if you and your family would be happy in this country which, although it is part of the USA, is completely different from anything you know in the US.

Before you decide to move here I would suggest to spend as much time here as you can afford. Don't visit the tourist attractions - there will be time for that after you decide you want to live here. Go to neighborhoods where you might consider to live, check the stores, medical care. Go to an emergency room and sit there for 7, 8 hours and try to decide if you could handle that when needed.
You might even be able to rent a house or apartment for a short stay - that would give you a much better impression of how life here would be than staying in a hotel or guest house.

If your son and husband plan to work here, do they speak Spanish? (important since that's the language here)

Read as much as you can about daily life here on the island. On this forum you can find a lot of info. Check f.i. Gregg's story. He came to retire here with his Puerto Rican wife but they couldn't get used to the place and moved back to the mainland.

Unless you have "mucho dinero" (a lot of money) or a highly paid expat job that allows you to live in a fancy gated community or an expensive condo in a great neighborhood you will live where most locals live. If you know in advance what that would mean you'll be just fine here.

I live a typical barrio in the mountains in Eastern Puerto Rico surrounded by locals. Many of them are (distant) family of my Puerto Rican wife. I feel at home here and there's no way I would move back to Europe.

What I'm trying to say is that you should prepare as good as you can by reading, asking and the most important: visiting the island  and neighborhoods where you might live before you make the final decision to move here

Hello Gary,
Wow, I must say between your reply and what Gregg has to say, PR is a bit daunting.  I profoundly appreciate your candidness.  My father is ex military thus the idea of living anywhere other than the continental US seemed appealing and not too difficult. I am in the very early stages and it's easy to get excited by the "glamorized" depiction of things, thus my reason for looking at this site.  Your honesty is refreshing and greatly appreciated.  All the best, Shelly

Just to make sure, I'm not trying to discourage you to move here. Many "Gringos" moved to PR and are happy here.

Getting to know the place before you decide to move is very important because it's really different from the USA (or Europe for that matter).

If you can afford to spend a vacation here, come and see for yourself. I did that and three months later I moved here and I never looked back.

There is a lot of great information on this post.  I am American, my husband is Canadian, and we live in Mexico.  Well, technically I live in Mexico.  He is here from January To June and then he goes back to Canada.  We visit in between his return to Puerto Vallarta.  We have been considering leaving Mexico and have turned our thoughts to Puerto Rico.  Before this happens I would like to get some really good advice on places to live and other aspects of daily life.  We are familiar with the latin tendencies so that will not be an issue, but I would like to know how things compare costwise, violence, and homes.